Protectors of the Planets (Season 1)
'Season 1 '''of ''Protectors of the Planets ''ran between January 1st, 2010 and May 14th, 2010. It stared Callum Turner as Jacob Lily, Ashton Sanders as Conrad Lily, Daniel Wu as Alexios, Katherine Langford as Cass, and Lenora Crichlow as Heidi Clement. The season compromised of 8 episodes, beginning with ''Soul Switch ''and concluding with ''Invasion on Eden. Although Reece Bridgwater wrote half the episodes, he executively-produced all 8 alongside Mark Daglish, with Alice Warren producing them. The premiere was watched by 12.6 weekly million viewers, and two weeks after the premiere episode was available to stream, Protectors of the Planets was renewed for a second season. It was met with a vast amount of positive reviews, being praised for "a refreshing form of sci-fi adventure, with all new original ideas" and "a collection of beautiful performances by both recurring and guest actors". Overview The season consisted of 8 stories and introduced the fundamental themes and ideas of the show through the eyes of an unaware-human, Heidi Clement in-conjunction with two university students - Jacob and Conrad Lily - who have been recently chosen as "hosts" for galactic police members Alexios and Cass. Throughout the season, the duo and Heidi travel throughout the Milky Way's history and protect it against alien threats, as well as dangerous new technology. The main story arc, covering several episodes, revolves around the mystery of why Jacob and Conrad were selected as "hosts" and what this means for the future of the universe. The duo's investigation into this ultimately led them to, and the destruction of, Eden, the home planet of Alexios and Cass, creating substantial consequences within the second season. This season importantly initiated the tradition of a "Dystopia Episode" being created for each season with the fourth episode entitled "Poached Tears". These were episodes in which the central characters are not present to save the day, therefore emphasising the importance of Jacob and Conrad. This allowed not only for the main cast to spend more time on other episodes, but also introduced glimpses of the "shared universe". A wide range of different characters, from friends to foes, help form the foundation of regular characters the duo meet throughout the show's future, as well as forming important connections to the show's several spin-offs. Episodes See also: List of Protectors of the Planets episodes (2005–present) Casting S''ee also: List of Protectors of the Planets cast members'' Callum Turner and Ashton Sanders portrayed Jacob and Conrad Lily respectively in this season. Bridgwater wanted to cast two upcoming actors in the role as a way to spark excitement and life in the show. The role of Jacob was originally offered to Josh Bowman however he had other commitments at the time (and since then regrets this). Ashton Sanders was the only actor considered by Bridgwater for the role of Conrad. Alexios and Cass, originally meant to be cast and used exclusively for voice acting in the show, were portrayed by Daniel Wu and Katherine Langford. Mark Daglish, the other executive producer for the show at this time, was adamant for the use of a female as one of the host-es in the show to give contrast to Wu's character, as well as diversity within the show. Strangely, when creating the last episode of the season (Invasion on Eden), Jacobs was in need of a twist and refresh, and hence asked the two actors if they wanted a physical role in the finale and potentially in the future (although a second season had not been confirmed then), in which they said yes. Heidi Clement, the "naive human" was portrayed by Lenora Crichlow after casting director Grant Burton suggested Crinchlow to Jacobs and Gaglish after seeing her performance in the BBC Three television show Being Human. Jacobs chose her for the role because she would walk best alongside Turner and Sanders and could be as loud as the other two. Other recurring characters for the series included Tequan Richmond as Yaguri, the host of Alexios and Cass' dark thoughts and actions; Julie Warner as Maria Lily, Jacob and Conrads mother; and Douglas Booth as Derek St Clair and Emily Alyn Lind as Dana Turner, the duo's best friends. Production Development English writer Reece Bridgwater was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the upcoming Jaba Studios streaming service Revma in the late 2000s. To contrast against his mystery thriller hit Pandora (2008-15) ''he wanted to produce a science-fiction drama, with shows such as ''The Twilight Zone ''acting as inspiration. Bridgwater wanted to focus a simple idea of two intergalactic space-agents protecting the universe from threats, and then overtime increase the lore and complexity of the universe. It wasn't until much later on in the development of the show that the idea of 'Hosting' - the sharing of a body between two consciousness - came into play, with Jacob & Conrad and Alexios & Cass becoming separate characters and personalities. He also wanted to introduce concepts and features of the show from another unaware-perspective, which resulted in Heidi Clement being created, although her entry into the show was purposely slow (as the rush of characters into the show was something Bridgwater's wanted to avoid). Writing The first season of ''Protectors of the Planets ''featured eight scripts, all either written or co-written by Bridgwater and another writer. This is due to Bridgwater wanting to control both the tone and the fundamental-ideas of the show. Jaba Studios had privately confirmed a Season 2 to the writers of the show during the first three episodes were written & filmed. Consequently, Bridgwater's developed mythology and story-arcs which were meant to continue into the future of the season. As well as series long story-arcs, taking inspiration from television shows such as ''Smallvile each series would have a "Big Bad" antagonist. Rebecca Ritchie served as the script editor for the entire season, although primarily ensured that they were right for production, instead of developing storylines and ideas with writers; again because of the controlled vision of Bridgwaters'. Filming Principal photography for the television show began on January 4th, 2009 on location in Yorkshire Moors for the first produced episode, The Hound of Pluto. Each episode took from two-and-a-half to three weeks to film, with all "spoilery' content filmed using a skeleton crew to avoid anyone leaking any information and scenes. Four directors were present on the series, each filming two episodes each, one after another in their assigned production block. Amanda Hescott directed the second and sixth episode, Alexandra Rives directed the first and third, Simon Nichol the seventh and fifth, and Clair Harvet the fourth and eighth. Production blocks were arranged as follows: Release Promotion The first trailer of the season was released both online, advertised on Revma and television in the September of 2009. On November 13th, a handful of promotional images were released depicting on television and released online shortly after the broadcast of the second part of The End of Time on 1 January 2010.99 On 17 February, a new promotional image was released.100 A second trailer was released on 20 February,101 and a 3D version was shown in cinemas with Alice in Wonderland.102 Moffat confirmed the season' 3 April start date on the 19 March BBC Breakfast.103 That day, a trailer shown at the press screening of episode one was released online.104 BBC America, who would air the season in the United States, released an extended trailer on 21 March.105 Promotional touring for the season began on 29 March and ended the two days later, with Smith and Gillan presenting the first episode in Belfast, Inverness, Sunderland, Salford and Northampton.106 The first episode was screened in New York's Paley Center for Media and the Village East Movie Theatre on 14 April.107108 Broadcast The fifth season of Doctor Who debuted on BBC One on 3 April 2010103 with "The Eleventh Hour", an extended 65-minute episode.69 It concluded with "The Big Bang" on 26 June.109 The sixth episode ("The Vampires of Venice") was broadcast at 6:00 p.m. BST, the earliest start time for an episode of Doctor Who since its 2005 return.110 Extra Content DVD and Blu-ray releases Reception Ratings "Rose" received average overnight ratings of 9.9 million viewers, peaking at 10.5 million, respectively 43.2% and 44.3% of all viewers at that time. The final figure for the episode, including video recordings watched within a week of transmission, was 10.81 million, making it the third highest for BBC One that week and seventh across all channels. The opening episode was the highest rated episode of the first season.71103 The penultimate episode, "Bad Wolf", received the lowest viewers of the season with just 6.81 million viewers.104 The season also garners the highest audience Appreciation Index of any non-soap drama on television.105 Besides the second episode, "The End of the World", which garnered a 79% rating, the lowest of the season, all episodes received an AI above 80%. The season finale "The Parting of the Ways" was the highest rated episode with an AI of 89%.106 The success of the launch saw the BBC's Head of Drama Jane Tranter confirming on 30 March that the season would return both for a Christmas Special in December 2005 and a full second season in 2006.107 Critical reception and response season 5 received highly positive reviews from critics following its broadcast. Rotten Tomatoes gave the season 100% approval rating, and an average score of 8.25/10.193 Matt Wales of IGN gave the season a "great" rating of 8.5 out of 10, saying that it "mightn't have been perfect" but rebooted the show "with a burst of creative energy" and "got bold, exciting, witty, smart, home-grown event television back on the small screen". He praised Smith for "dazzling with a performance that painted the Doctor as thoroughly alien" and the Doctor's "effortless" character development, but was critical of the Amy Pond character. Although he considered her "thoroughly watchable" (particularly her chemistry with Smith), he criticised the character as "frequently painted in largely two-dimensional strokes that made for a brash, sometimes irritating turn" and the season as a whole for lacking "heart to ground the elaborate sci-fi trimmings". Wales praised Moffat's "beautifully conceived" story arc and the narrative's complexities. Awards and nominations Soundtrack Main Article: Protectors of the Planets: Season 1 (soundtrack) Selected pieces of score from this series, as composed by Murray Gold, were released in a 3-CD set on 18 May 2015 by Silva Screen Records along with music from the 2014 Christmas special "Last Christmas".154